Rose: flavour of the season

It’s the sherbet season! It’s so hot that something cool is always welcome. I love nimbu pani whereas my daughters opt for chilled rose sherbet. 

Rose sherbet. Reminds me of my childhood adventures with barf ka gola…the golewala would scrape the ice onto a plate, pack it up firmly on a bamboo stick and then give us (wide-eyed) kids an option to choose from any of his brightly coloured sherbets…green, yellow, orange, red, pink. Then he would upturn the sherbet bottle onto the ice lolly and smother it completely with the sherbet. We would end up with coloured mouths and tongues and of course, shirt fronts too! My cousin, enterprising fellow, would coax the golewala to colour his gola with two-three sherbets! 

Handy and sweet

Sherbet is actually synonymous with rose sherbet to most people. What is sherbet exactly? Sherbet is made from fruit juices or extracts of flowers and herbs, combined with sugar and water to make a syrup that can be mixed at any later time with chilled water, milk or even ice. 

A bottle of rose sherbet is a handy thing to have in the summer months. I had this drink at a friend’s place recently: rose sherbet topped with tiny cubes of chilled watermelon instead of ice. She served with a small bowl of kala namak for those who prefer the salty twist. I did use the salt and enjoyed the drink thoroughly. Rose sherbet is a quick fix drink for unexpected guests and also makes a good beverage with chilled creamy milk for tired children. 

Sherbet surprises

I recently used up some extra barfis at home as stuffing for a parantha and then served the hot parantha with chilled rabdi liberally doused with rose sherbet. It was a great hit! Kulfi falooda thrives on rose sherbet. I have combined my nimbu pani with rose sherbet to some good effect. Try it, it is nice. And have decided to surprise my kids with a pink coloured lassi this afternoon…yes, will make lassi using yogurt and rose sherbet. They would love it with crushed ice on top, I know it. 

Rose is edible

Rose has many other culinary uses. Fresh petals make a salad, dried petals make gulkand and garnish many a dish. I made a rose shrikhand with hung yogurt, gulkand, sugar and dried rose petals. 

Rose water cools and how

And how useful is rose water? Rose water is a wonderful coolant. Soak some cotton pads with rose water and place on tired eyes. It’s an instant refresher. Rose water also makes gulab jamun syrup better as also flavours rose sandesh with the perfect delicate notes. It can also make malai barfi into rose malai barfi! Colour it pink and cover with dried rose petals. Rose is a good ingredient to keep you in the pink of health this season!

Recommended recipes - Sago With Honeydew,  Restaurant Style Gravy,  Falooda,  Kachche Gosht ki Biryani,  Rose Ice Cream